You've Got Mail
by Keiko Noriko
Summary: Future Fic. Literati. "She's got a mail. A package, actually. From Jess. Wow, what was the last time she saw him? Oh yeah, exactly five years ago, as she remembered earlier that day."
1. Chapter 1

It had been exactly five years since her last encounter with Jess. She remembered it sooner that day, when she sat in her office in New York City and looked at the calendar on her desk.

All that was going on with him lately she knew because of Luke, like his four other published books, the great reviews they had, the promotion in Truncheon Books, the new apartment in Philadelphia, and maybe something to do with an engagement and a recent break up - not that she cared about any of this.

In fact, she hadn't even realized how long it had been since she had seen him until that day, when she decided to "give the painful Ernest Hemingway another chance" as she said once. After all, she had her own twists in her life to care about; her own career, her own compliments received for her articles, her own relationships, her own break ups, and her own new apartment in New York.

Yeah, her life was great right now. All she ever dreamed was becoming true: making a good money with something she loved, being recognized in the journalism circuit, and keeping in contact with her mother often. And even though sometimes it was hard to balance her job with having a life, she always figured it out somehow.

The clock now had just announced the lunch break, much to Rory's relief. She grabbed her purse and her laptop and left the building, walking to the restaurant where she usually goes to meet Paris.

They weren't co-workers anymore. But over the years, they had gotten used to seeing each other almost ever single day, and it's known that old habits die hard, at least that's what Paris said. So they made a deal: they would have lunch together during the week as long as Rory could pick the restaurant. It wasn't bad. Since her wedding, Paris had become a lot more likable.

Rory Gilmore turned on her laptop and started to proofread her latest article while she ate her meal and heard Paris's monologue about how moronic her boss was for not taking her suggestion of firing the receptionist because she has no idea who Asher Flemming was. This is a good sign, since the old Paris would simply fire the receptionist herself, and not argue about it. The young Gilmore nodded when she heard Paris asking her if she was right. She knew, better than anyone, that the best way to keep a friendship with Paris was to agree with whatever she said.

Cindy Lauper started to sing "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" in Rory's purse, making her realize her mother had changed her ringtone again. Ignoring Paris's complaints about the song, she picked up her cellphone.

"Hey kiddo, how are you?" Lorelai started, on the other line.

"Hey mom, I'm fine. Can you be fast? I'm kind of busy right now," her daughter answered, making a sign for Paris stay quite for awhile.

"Please, tell me you're not proofreading your articles during your lunch break again!" she whined, "You're crazy, you know?"

"A crazy that will choose your asylum," Rory retorted.

"Got it. I'll be fast, then. I'm calling you to ask you if you're coming here this weekend. We're have the movie festival in town and Emily is planning something with all of us that I didn't pay any attention to," the older Gilmore continued.

"Yeah, I guess I can come this weekend... is that all?" she asked, after a few seconds of an awkward silence.

"No. Huh...You've got a mail."

"I've got a mail?" the daughter repeated, raising her eyebrows.

"A package, actually."

"Who sent it?" Rory asked, curious.

"I was hoping you wouldn't ask me this...it's from Jess," she answered. Rory could visualize her mother bitting her lower lip, apprehensively. Jess was always a delicate subject in the Gilmore family, even after all these years.

The younger Gilmore blinked, trying to absorb the information she just found out. She's got a mail. A package, actually. From Jess. Wow, what was the last time she saw him? Oh yeah, exactly five years ago, as she remembered earlier that day. Well, this was going to be interesting.

Paris, impatiently, woke her up from her trance. She heard her mom calling her, insistantly, to check if she was still there.

"Ok. I'll see it when I got there tomorrow. Bye mom." Rory hung up without waiting for a response, obviously she hadn't recovered herself completely yet.

She looked at her friend, in front of her, who was waiting for an explanation. At least this is what Rory thought from her stare, until she learned that the girl just wanted to continue her "awesome" story and wouldn't tolerate another interruption.

After lunch, Rory went back to her office doing her best to concentrate on her work. But she couldn't get rid of her thoughts about what Jess could have possibly sent to her.

'It could be his other books,' she thought. She hadn't read any of them yet. Considering how their last encounter ended, she wasn't sure if he wanted her to.

Sometimes, in the past, she had wanted to talk to him; ask for forgiveness; recover their friendship. But now, five years later, talking to him didn't seem to have a purpose; it was too late now. So, she moved on; found a boyfriend and broke up with him. Another boyfriend, another break up. Another one, another break up. Until she finally met Mark Evans, her one year and a half serious relationship. They even moved in together, but things stopped working and it came to an end last week.

She entered her new apartment, still full of boxes to be unpacked. She kicked one of them violently, suddenly remembering her recent break up. She cursed herself for being so stupid to believe in a jerk like Mark and for wanting to cry over a "Beautiful Liar," like her ringtone once was, and for chosing such a stupid ringtone. She started to eat her reheated dinner, shaking him off of her mind.

Friday came, and Rory couldn't hide her excitement, or curiosity, as she liked to call it. She tried to keep her routine: waking up early for work, drinking a cup of the awful coffee of the the office, writing articles, having luch with Paris, proofreading her articles, going back to work, drinking the awful - now cold - coffee, and waiting until the clock says it's time for her to go, so she can finally go to Stars Hollow and see what Jess had sent for her.

After catching up with her mother, she opened the letter:

"Dear Rory,

I was reorganizing my bookshelf recently when I realized these books were yours. And since I've quit my Dodger career, I thought I should give them back to you...

Anyway, I hope everything is going well with you.

Jess"

She read it to herself, noticing his hadwriting hadn't changed at all. She left the letter in one side and looked at the covers of the books: "Slaughterhouse Five" and "Wuthering Heights."

"What's it?" Lorelai asks, over her daughter's shoulder.

"Nothing, really..." she can't help smiling.

* * *

**Hey, hope you like my new story. It's not a crossover with the movie or anything.**

**Anyway, tell me what you think! This will make me post the next chapter sooner.**

**Bye :)**


	2. Chapter 2

"_Dear Jess , ..."_

Those words were sitting on her computer screen for almost a month now. That little bar kept blinking away, as if it was teasing her on what her next words would be. She had already typed and deleted every single kind of response, but none of them seemed appropriate for someone whom she used to love and whose heart she broke the last time they'd been in contact.

But it had been so long now, and his letter didn't seem to show any kind of bitterness towards her over that day five years and three weeks ago.

She stared at her laptop once more before letting out a sigh and deciding to leave this subject for another day. She had much more urgent things to think about; it was only a few months away from her mother's wedding with Luke, the man who happened to be Jess's uncle, who happened to be Luke's Best Man.

Rory didn't mind it at first, actually she didn't even think about it at all, it was only natural to happen in her mind, and she was fine with it; that is… until she received his package returning two of her books with this letter that didn't leave place to any sort of interpretation. Good or bad.

Was this supposed to mean he was over her? And gave her books back as a sign he was moving on? Or was it a way to recover their friendship, or relationship for that matter? She knew he hadn't discussed it with Luke, or else he would have sent it to her apartment. Unless he wanted to provoke her mother, which did sound like something he would do. Finally she just decided it was best for her stop thinking too much all at once and simply go to sleep.

* * *

Lorelai was starting to freak out about the wedding plans. After she and Luke got back together, they decided take things slower, to make sure it was the best decision for both of them; this led to a three years relationship before the actual proposal, and then finally, the wedding, which was only two months away to plan and prepare everything.

Nothing could go wrong at this point and Rory couldn't be happier about it. As the Maid of Honor, she was responsible for organizing the wedding, and more importantly, the best Bachelorette Party ever seen; she, Lane and Sookie were already working on it. This was the one thing that really kept her mind off of her personal life.

On the other hand, she was completely clueless about what was going on in the boys' side. Soon after the engagement, Luke sat down with both of the Gilmore girls and asked them for their permission to have his nephew be his Best Man, and since that day she hadn't heard a word about it. She knew that Luke would often go to Philadelphia on the weekends to see Jess, leaving Rory and Lorelai free to plan their part of the wedding and do all the girly non-wedding related things they always liked to do whenever they were together.

Ever since the package arrived, the subject was never discussed by the girls. Lorelai even tried a couple of times to slowly bring it up, but Rory was always evasive.

The bride, over the course of the past few years, had grown to be pretty much neutral about the Jess issue. She knew about the books already, and everything Luke had told Rory he had also told Lorelai. He wasn't sure if they wanted to hear about those things, especially Rory, and a few times he restrained himself from talking too much about his nephew - unlike Rory, he never lost contact with Jess in all those years.

On that particular weekend, the girls were taste testing flavors for the wedding cake. According to Emily, this was poorly planned considering they had already picked the wedding dress and Lorelai couldn't gain as much as half a pound without having to alter the dress, which would only be a concern and an additional cost that they wouldn't have if they just picked the cake first. What Emily didn't know is that they were trying out cake flavors ever since Luke proposed to Lorelai, just for the fun of it, and they hadn't gained any extra weight. Today was just the set date, according to Rory's crazy Maid of Honor's schedule.

"I'm still not sure…" Lorelai moaned, taking another piece of the Almond Cream. "Hey, I got it. Why don't we make a cake made of coffee?" she suggested, suddenly looking a lot less bored.

"Luke doesn't like coffee," Rory reminded her.

"So? If I pick Vanilla some people won't like it, either, I can't please everyone, honey," Lorelai pointed out.

"Yeah, but those people won't be your groom," Rory reminded her again.

"And it's not a wedding cake flavor," Sookie replied, feeling a little hurt that she would think a coffee flavored cake was better than all of the cakes she had spent the entire previous day preparing.

"Luke doesn't even eat cake unless there's a bunch of fruit in it and no frosting," Lorelai shrugged and crossed her arms, something she was doing a lot lately. It meant she was about to go all spoiled brat on them and everyone else around. "I'm not saying we make an all-coffee cake, maybe we could just add coffee at some point in the recipe," she insisted.

"I guess we could add some coffee flavor into one of these cakes…" Sookie compromised, knowing it was better to not have a discussion about wedding cakes with her when it was her wedding.

"Oh my God! You are the best person to ever walk on earth!" Lorelai jumped out of her chair to hug Sookie. "Seriously, divorce Jackson, I'll marry you! We even have half of the ceremony prepared already," she squealed.

And the rest of the day was spent on trying to figure out which cake would taste best with fruits and coffee just to decide they would actually make a layered cake, alternating between the coffee flavored cake and the cake of Luke's choice.

"We're home! Go tell Fran," Lorelai mumbled as she was dragged out of the car by her daughter.

"You know, I never thought it was possible for us to eat too much food, but I think we might just have broken a record," Rory said between gasps.

"Please," Lorelai replied, letting go of her daughter and standing up straight, "we're not even comatose yet, it's just sugar."

"And fat, and carbohydrates, and calories, and coffee…" Rory continued. They both walked to the front door but sat down on the bench outside first. "Great idea to have a coffee cake, though," Rory finished.

"It is, isn't it? I just gave Coffee Cake a new and better meaning. There'll be statues in my honor, I'll be on Rachel Ray's show, and they will name a Coffee brand after me; it'll be a glorious day." she said, sighing.

"You do remember we found the recipe online, right?" Rory laughed.

"They don't have to know that. Meanwhile, I brought some of it back from the Inn," Lorelai continued, opening her purse and taking a plastic box with two pieces of cake in it.

"Great!" Rory said, taking one of the pieces, while the other Gilmore took the other.

"So, new subject?" Lorelai asked, and Rory agreed. "Have you been talking to Jess?"

"Oh, that reminds me, Mom, I'll have to leave earlier tomorrow. Paris have been sending me texts all day today about an article she wrote that she wants to discuss with me," Rory cut her off.

"Yeah, honey, subtlety… not your thing," Lorelai replied, raising her eyebrows, and staring at her daughter, meaning she wouldn't leave until she got an answer.

"I'm sorry, it's just … I don't know… I don't want to talk about it," Rory hesitated, looking down and taking a crumb of her cake.

"Because… we need full sentences here," her mother insisted.

"Because it's weird. It's been five years since I last had any contact with him, and now all of the sudden, this… I just am not sure what to think about it," the younger girl finally said.

"Well, honey, you see, it's not completely out of the blue, we have the wedding coming up and you'll both be there," Lorelai reminded her.

"I know…"

"And you'll both be playing very important parts in it."

"I know…"

"And then, you might run into each other a few times, if he starts coming here for Luke."

"I know…"

"All I'm saying is that maybe he wanted you guys to have closure, you know, finally be on friendly terms so it's not awkward for anyone," Lorelai concluded.

"I kn… Wait, so you think that's what it's about? You don't think he's attempting for us to get back together?" Rory straightened her back and looked at her mother, suddenly seeming very surprised by her speech.

She looked back at her offspring, even more surprised."Yeah, why? You thought it was him attempting to get back together with you?"

"Well, yeah… no… I don't know…" Rory shook her head and stared at her lap.

"Did you want it to be?" Lorelai asked very carefully.

"I don't know…"

"This is getting repetitive," she sighed.

"It's because we're high on sugar and in desperate need for bed, so we're not thinking straight," Rory replied, still avoiding her eyes.

"Yeah, we should just call it a night and leave the discussions for tomorrow," she said, getting up of the bench and grabbing her keys.

"Discussions about Jess?" Rory asked looking up at her mother.

"About shoes," Lorelai responded, as if it was obvious, which made Rory very relieved that the subject was apparently off the table now.

They both entered the house and kissed each other goodnight. Rory went to her bedroom, feeling actually a little relieved she had finally talked about it with someone whose opinion mattered – she didn't find the online forums all that helpful, and her pro/con lists started seeming pointless once she realized that she didn't know which of the situations she should be making a pro/con list for; them moving on from each other or them getting back together.

Talking to her mother, though, made her realize how completely clueless she was, and considering he broke her heart first, that made them kind of even, which meant that whatever came from this would be just a fresh start for both of them.

With that in mind, she turned on her laptop and finally typed the rest of her letter, and without reading it again – she knew how dangerous it had been in the past weeks – she pressed the send button and went to bed, feeling pretty content with her response.

* * *

**A/N: So, first I want to give an enormous thank you to luvtheheaven and clumsy20 for their wonderful beta work and patience with me, I can't wait to work with them again on the next chapter. Second, I want to apologize for the long wait (some of you might be wondering what was that email on your email box today LOL). Well, 3 years later and we're finally on the year the fic is set, which helps a lot with references and stuff, but sadly, there are no flying cars yet as I hoped... oh well, anyways, I know I'll update soon, I'm almost finished on the 3rd chapter and I have these two amazing girls to help me out. So, please, review, I won't say it will make me update sooner (I won't lie again), but they still make every writer's day.**


	3. Chapter 3

Jess hadn't replied yet. It was understandable, though, considering he had spent his Sunday with his uncle. Then Monday came and he was too busy managing Truncheon's Books, just like she was also supposed to be working.

The only emails she had gotten since the previous week were from Paris; she was sending all these articles and sites about pregnancy, motherhood, kids, teenagers, families, and one that Rory wished was spam about the best sexual positions to conceive a baby.

Rory read all of them; she knew Paris well enough to know that she would have gone into details on every single one and if she missed something, she would get busted. Being grounded by Paris was out of question now with Lorelai's wedding so close.

She had a very good idea of what this was all about. Paris was crazy about Mark Evans, she didn't even meet him personally, but he was the owner of a small magazine company that she loved in New York, and Paris thought that if she showed her support for him and Rory, he would invite Paris to work there.

Rory never told Paris the exact reason why they broke up, but the first week afterward Paris kept on insisting that they should get back together. She calmed down after a while and now she was clearly trying to bring up the subject again.

Rory logged off her email account and went back to finishing typing her article; one, as she'd been informed, that was going to be on the front page of the next day's edition. This was a huge deal for her. It was her first great opportunity since she started working at the New York Post, and as much as she wanted to focus on it and type out the best piece that whole company had ever seen, she was still feeling insecure.

Being Editor there wasn't her dream job; she was still stuck in an office following a nine to five pace and the furthest her job had taken her so far was Trenton, New Jersey. But she knew it was only a matter of time until they saw her potential and shipped her off to New Zealand or Puerto Rico or any other country where something interesting was going on. Now Mark Evans was out of her way, and after her mother's wedding there would be nothing stopping her from going out and seeing the world.

Also, it occurred to her that besides managing Truncheon's Books Jess was also (and mainly) a writer. It wouldn't be too hard for him to accompany her to those places and still live his own dream while he was at it. She immediately shook that idea out of her head; he hadn't even bothered to take five minutes to reply to her yet, and she most certainly didn't know what his intentions were, if there were any.

Rory finished her article before her daily lunch with Paris. She organized her desk the best she could before taking her laptop and leaving the building to get to their usual restaurant.

She scanned the place only to find that Paris hadn't arrived yet, so she took a table and turned on her computer. She checked her email: still no response from Jess, although Barack Obama seemed to find some time to ask her if she was available to work with him again; the email was probably sent by an assistant and it was probably sent to all of the journalists who covered his campaign, but still _Obama_ had found the time to give someone instructions to mail her.

She closed the window and started to work on a piece to which she was assigned that morning. She sensed someone sit on the chair at her right, and then, someone sat on the chair at her left, making her look up, confused.

Paris's husband greeted the blue eyed girl, who greeted him back with a confused smile before greeting the actual wife.

"So, did you read them?" Paris asked, completely ignoring the formalities.

"Every single creepy one of them," Rory nodded. "And honestly, I'm really thankful for all the effort you're making, but it's just not going to happen."

The blonde girl looked at her shocked, even letting her jaw drop a little bit before giving a glance at Doyle who also seemed very astonished; then she looked at her best friend again, waiting for an explanation.

"I'm sorry, Paris, I'm not going back with Mark Evans, we're definitely over," Rory sighed.

"What? What are you talking about?" Paris raised her eyebrows. "I couldn't care less about you and Mark. Besides, he might own a great magazine, but the guy is a moron."

"You said we should marry and that you wanted to be a part of it," Rory replied incredulously.

"Doyle told me I should be more supportive," Paris explained.

"That I did," he confirmed with a nod. Rory frowned in perplexity looking at the both of them hoping that things would soon be clarified.

"We're thinking about having children and we want your opinion," Doyle finally said, looking dearly at his wife and taking her hand.

"We already know Doyle's parents are okay with this and mine think it's just a waste of time and energy on someone who will just disappoint you constantly and we don't have anyone else to ask, so we wanted to know your opinion before making a decision," Paris continued. Rory kept looking from one to the other without saying anything. "And don't worry, if we do decide to go ahead with this, it will be after your mother's wedding. I don't want to look fat in the ceremony," she kept on. _It was very thoughtful of her to take her mother's wedding into account when making one of the most important decisions of her life_, Rory thought ironically.

"So, what do you think?" he insisted.

"About what?" Rory asked.

"About us, me, Doyle, doing the baby thing. Are you pro it? Con it? Should we throw a baby shower, or buy a cat?" Paris replied starting to sound even more impatient than she usually got when she wasn't getting the reaction from people that she wanted.

"Well, I don't know, this is for you two to figure out, I guess…" Rory said. It seemed that the more they explained and the more she tried to understand what was going on, the most confused she got.

"We don't know what we think," Doyle moaned.

"Too bad, I won't decide it for you," she shook her head and started to pick up her stuff from the table.

"Why?" the other girl shouted.

"Because you're crazy," Rory explained, standing up and leaving the table.

"You are no longer the godmother of this perhaps never-born baby!" Paris shouted again to her back, causing people there to look at both of them. Doyle placed his hand on his wife's shoulder to calm her down.

Rory went to the counter to cancel her order before she walked out of the restaurant and wandered around for a while. Her mother was getting married, her childhood friend was married with children, her other best friend was married and thinking about babies… for the first time it ocurred to her that she was the only one who was completely single and lonely, living alone in a tiny apartment in New York and trying to stick with her old friends – she never bothered to bond with people at work, she always thought she would get a job as a international correspondent soon. It seemed she was stuck in time these days. She would still go back to her town whenever she could, she would still go to Friday Night Dinners at her grandparents' house, and, as the cherry on the top of that cake, she was holding on to a high school flame who just recently decided to suddenly reenter her life.

She was starting to feel really sorry for herself, but she knew she shouldn't because things were going great for her, they were a little slow, but they were moving, and she knew it would soon all soon fall into place. She should be happy that her article would be featured on the front page on the next day. That meant a lot and she knew it.

She stopped at a hot dog stand and ordered one to go before heading back to the office to continue her work. She did her best trying to suppress the memories of a day very long ago, when she had ended up at a hot dog stand in the exact same city. Still, she couldn't help but analyze how things had changed since that day. In her teens, she had considered walking alone in the city to be an adventure, but now it was her reality. Also, taking the subway lately was necessary, rather than amusing, and she would cross her fingers that someone who was lost wouldn't ask her for directions.

She finished her hot dog outside the building, where the smelly smokers were taking a drag before getting back to their stressful jobs. She checked her email once again, this time only finding a message from Paris complaining that she'd been rude to leave the restaurant that way, and that she was still waiting for an answer. Rory deleted it with a sigh; it was going to be a very long day.

When the clock announced the end of the work day, she was already half-way through the door, desperate to go back to her apartment, take a shower, have dinner, read a book and go to bed as early as she could.

She was about to do the last item on that list when she decided to check her email once more. Still nothing from Jess, but in the past few hours she'd gotten a few more from Paris, one from Doyle apologizing for his wife's behavior, and one from her mother asking if they could change their wedding-planning a bit and go to New York that coming weekend for wedding shoe shopping, instead of just buying them in Connecticut. She giggled at her mother's excitement and decided to give her a call to catch up before resting for the next day.

She woke up feeling refreshed. She poured herself a cup of coffee, and then left her apartment and went down to the mailroom. Today was the day her article would be on the front page and she couldn't be more excited, in fact, she was so excited that she wasn't even bothered by the pile of bills that were together with the newspaper.

And there it was, the day's newspaper, and right on the front, in tiny letters, her name "Lorelai Gilmore" along with the newest headline in New York, all brought to the readers by her. She never thought she would care so much about the remodeling of the Wien Stadium, she wasn't even that into sports. She smiled happily reading her own words.

One of her neighbors brushed against her while reaching into his mailbox.

"Hey, did you hear about the new Wien Stadium?" Rory asked him with a smile.

The neighbor looked at her, first confused, and then after looking her up and down, he grinned.

"Yeah, I wanted to go there someday soon, would Friday work for you?" he asked leaning against the wall, trying to look cool.

Rory frowned realizing what had just happened. "Oh no, sorry, I can't," she apologized, starting to feel embarrassed; she tried a smile again, handing him her paper. "But there's a great piece about it in here, if you want to check it. I have to go."

She gave him an awkward wave and left without looking back.

When she arrived to the office, nobody seemed quite as thrilled about her article as she did. For most of them it was just a regular day, with a regular new edition that had a few articles on the front page and many more throughout the entire newspaper, along with some advertisements and letters from the readers, and, in that particular edition, also a recipe for onion rings (which seemed to be a hit among her coworkers, more interesting to them than Wien Stadium, at least).

X

The rest of the week was very uneventful until Thursday. Paris had decided she and Doyle would try to start a family, and Lorelai remarked after hearing the news from Rory, that "their kid will beg to go to Military School to escape from Paris's strict rules."

After making that decision, they were back to having lunch together, although Rory feared she would soon start to ask for her opinion on names and genders, as if it was really possible for Paris to control whether she got a boy a girl (it wasn't that much of a stretch to imagine that Paris would consider it within her power).

Rory had just finished taking a shower when she decided to check her email before going back to reading _Gulliver's Travels_ – she was still very upset about Jack Black's version, and this was her way to get back at the Hollywood producers.

Just like the other days, she still got lots of junk mail, but no responses from Jess. She sighed and went to her bookshelf to read more about Laputa, noticing that the book was next to the _Slaughterhouse Five_ on the shelf. She glanced at it and then took it very carefully, suddenly with a thought on her mind.

She had reread that copy of the book as soon as she had gotten it back from Jess, and he'd probably known that she would do that, so he'd written down his email address along with his footnotes regarding O'Hare's children's book _Dresden: History, Stage, Gallery_.

_Th__is is not some insightful view of Mary Endell's quote on Goethe, this is just plain vandalism, _she thought when she'd first spotted it, written in ink, unlike all the rest of the footnotes that were written with a pencil. And if he had taken that much thought into it, to leave an obvious way for her to reach him, why hadn't he replied to her when she did exactly what he had clearly hoped she'd do?

She was about to return the book to the shelf when she heard her doorbell. Her heart skipped a beat, and she held onto the book tighter, moving it away from the shelf once again and holding it closer to her body. She wondered if what she was imagining to be true could even be possible, and she headed to the door taking a deep breath before opening it.

She couldn't believe her eyes.

* * *

**A/N: So, I'm running out of time here but I wanted to update it before my trip. So, here's the next chapter, things are starting to heat up :) thank you everyone who favorited/subscribed and reviewed. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and seriously, your opinion means a lot to me!**

**An special thank you to _luvtheheaven _she's my beta reader and an amazing one at that! You guys should also check her fics and her videos! Chapter 4 probably will take a while longer to be updated, it's already written, but I'm working on a new project right now that I think many of you guys will enjoy. I'll let you know when it's up. Well, that's it I guess, I hope I have a lot of good surprises when I get back. :D  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**A.N.: Hey, looks like a lot of authors are back on writing now (at least according to my author's alert list and story's alert lists an every single Author's Note out there). Well, no exceptions here. I'm just really sorry it took me so long to update my fic. Next chapter will probably take a while, too, but it will be worth it, I promise. As usual, thank you so much luvtheheaven for her amazing and patient Beta job (if you also enjoy Jess/Luke interactions you should really check her recently finished fic "Just For You").  
**

**Anyways, here it is, I hope you guys enjoy it. And in case you're lost, here comes a "Previously on You've Got Mail": **

**The fic starts off with Rory being recently single, with the reason of the break up unexplained. After that, she receives a letter from Jess returning two of her old books, it takes her almost a month to reply to him and at this point she's anxiously waiting for him to answer and as she's thinking about it someone knocks at her door...**

* * *

She stared blankly at the man standing in front of her. He looked very different than he had the last time she'd seen him, and it took her a few seconds to realize who he was. He had a dark, saddened expression which usually would've caused her to feel worried and sorry for him, but now, after all he had put her through, she only felt disgusted.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, one hand still holding the doorknob in case she needed to shut it quickly.

"Aren't you gonna invite me in?" the man asked back and entered the apartment, before she even had a chance to respond. "You really live here? It's so tiny," he pointed out as he looked around.

"What do you want, Mark?" she insisted. He turned to her again and met her disapproving face.

He gulped and looked down at her. "I need to talk to you…"

"Okay, then talk," she replied, letting her hand go off of the doorknob and crossing her arms.

He let out a sigh and concentrated on his next words. "Lila's been cheating on me," he said, his voice cracking a little. Rory raised her eyebrows. "Cheating, Rory! And she even talked about getting a divorce so she can go off and marry that douche bag!" he cried.

"Wow, I can't believe it," Rory said bluntly. She honestly couldn't believe he had the nerve to be upset about his wife doing the same thing he did to her for at least one year and a half, and mostly, she couldn't believe that he would pick her of all people to vent about this situation.

"I know!" he cried again, waving his arms in disbelief and wandering around her apartment. "After all I've done to her, after everything I did to her, after all I bought her. I mean, I treated her decently, I treated both of you decently. I treated you decently, didn't I?" he approached her and tried to reach for her arm, but she was faster and avoided him.

"You really believe that? Because I beg to differ. Yes, you bought me jewelry. Yes, you took me to fancy restaurants. Yes, you moved in together with me, to a really nice apartment. But then, you lied about every little thing in your life, and cheated, and lied about cheating, and fooled me and Lila for over a year, and who knows how long you'd keep this sick thing going if it wasn't for that stupid party that you took me to? So no, you didn't treat me decently, you treated us both awfully. I hope she's happier now," Rory ranted while trying to keep her voice down. The door was still open and she hadn't lived there long enough to know how nosy her neighbors could be.

"Ror, come on…" he said apologetically.

"You don't have to shorten my nickname!" she shouted. "You said you were going to travel for business, and then simply disappeared for weeks or a month. No calls, no letters, no emails, no smoke signals and then you'd come back, make up some exciting story and do something nice for me. What's really unbelievable is that you could do that to two people who supported and cared about you!" Rory's voice cracked, and she trailed off; she really didn't want to start crying because of him, especially right in front of him.

He stared at her astonished. He had never seen her angry like that. Even when she found out he was married they didn't discuss it, she only asked if it was true and if he had already filed the papers for the divorce. When he admitted that yes it was true and no he hadn't filed anything yet, she said she would get someone to pick her stuff up from the apartment. By the time he got back from work, everything was gone with no form of contact for him.

"Rory, listen to me…" he tried again.

"No, Mark. I've listened enough. I'm sure you had a great reason for it; everyone who does this kind of thing whether it's a one time thing, or a real relationship like ours, everyone always has a great excuse for doing it. But you're not Ross and I'm not Rachel, and I don't want to listen to what you have to tell me, I just want you to leave." She pointed firmly to the door.

"Oh, come on, don't do that reference thing again, you know I don't read much," he pleaded, trying to get closer to her and her stepping back again.

"Oh, I know that alright. You couldn't even read your marriage agreement, could you? And for your information, Ross and Rachel are from a TV show. Now leave, please." She hung by the open door and stared defiantly at him. He stared back, with a pity expression that she completely ignored. "If you don't walk through that door right now, I'm calling the police."

He finally decided to walk away. She locked the door behind him without a second glance. She leaned her back against the door and slipped to the floor, defeated. She held her breath for as long as she could and started to cry holding her legs.

It was mostly a cry of relief. Of course, there was still pain for being fooled for so long by someone she cared about. But mostly, she felt relieved that she finally had the guts to say what she felt about their entire situation. She wiped off her tears and looked up to the clock hanging on the wall. It was still early and she made a decision. She took all of her stuff that was close enough to her at the moment and left the apartment.

She went to her car and looked over her glove compartment. She got her pile of CDs and picked Van Morrison's _Astral Weeks_.

Rory called her mother halfway through the trip and by the time she got to Stars Hollow, Lorelai was already waiting for her on the front yard. Their eyes met each other and Rory felt she would fall apart again; she bit her lower lip and Lorelai hurried to meet her. Rory quickly unfastened her seat belt and went to her mother. She wrapped her arms around her mother's neck, and Lorelai reciprocated, hugging her tightly. They stood outside like that for a while before making their way inside.

"What's going on?" Luke asked worriedly as he saw his step-daughter-to-be with her face buried in his fiancée's chest.

"Tough day," Lorelai replied with a sympathetic smile.

"I'll go make coffee," he nodded in understanding and kissed the older Gilmore's forehead before going to the kitchen, allowing the two girls some time alone in Rory's bedroom.

Rory laid down on her bed while her mother sat on the edge next to her, gently patting her daughter's hand.

"How are you feeling, Hon?" Lorelai asked quietly.

"Just a tough day like you said," she sighed. "I brought you the Tuesday edition with my article on the front page, and I also brought you the Wednesday edition with the readers' opinion. Most of them aren't about the Stadium, and the few ones about the Stadium care more about the fact it was rebuilt rather than how the subject was written or who wrote it, but I thought you'd like it."

"You know me too well," Lorelai nodded. "And I'll hang them on the fridge, right next to your first grade paperwork on unicorns."

"I thought you'd do that, too," she giggled but it only lasted a second before she returned to her saddened expression. "I saw Mark today…" Rory muttered sadly.

Lorelai raised her eyebrows in surprise and tried to give her daughter an encouraging smile for her to continue her story.

* * *

They went to Hartford the next day. Rory called her work early in the morning to ask for a day off and once it was settled, the girls concentrated on finding the perfect shoe for Lorelai's wedding dress.

Lorelai hoped this would make her daughter feel better. After all, she knew better than anyone the cathartic effect shoe shopping could have on a girl.

The girls spent the entire day walking around Hartford, and Lorelai felt relieved that Rory seemed to have already gotten over what happened the night before. They talked, they laughed and they even had a small fight when Lorelai decided to give up on finding the perfect shoe and decided she would walk down the aisle wearing running sneakers in case she changed her mind.

This led to a much bigger and serious fight about how Rory wouldn't allow her mother let the love of her life escape again and ruin her own happiness. The discussion only ended by the end of the day, when Lorelai immediately fell in love with one of the shoes displayed in a show window. It was a peep-toe sling back in ivory satin with a Swarovski crystal on the top.

After that, they even found a tiara that would go with the dress, which they knew would please Emily (who always said Lorelai had too big of a head for a veil).

* * *

Saturday came and Rory decided to go to Lane's to discuss their secret Bachelorette Party's plans. She took a shower, got dressed and left the bathroom, looking for her shoes.

"Mom, where are those infamous sneakers we bought yesterday? I tho…" she asked on her way to the living room.

"Hi, kiddo!" Lorelai said, jumping from the stairs and stopping in front of her daughter.

"What was that?" Rory asked with a chuckle.

"What was what, honey?" Lorelai asked innocently.

"That little jump thing you did just now," Rory replied, still amused.

"What? I didn't do a jump thing," Lorelai responded with a nervous laugh.

"Yes, you did. You seemed like you were about to do a musical number or something," Rory insisted.

"Honey, did we ever get you tested? You're starting to see things," her mother mocked.

"Fine," she gave up. "I'm going over to Lane's now. I'll meet you for lunch, okay?" Rory said turning around to go to her bedroom. But before she had a chance to, her mother jumped in front of her again.

"Mom, what's going on?" Rory asked, starting to feel suspicious about the situation.

"Nothing. Why? Is there something you want to tell me, Miss?" her mother raised her eyebrows suggestively.

"So you simply decided today you'd block all of my paths?" Rory asked, moving away from her mother and continuing her walk to her room.

"I'm auditioning for Glee!" Lorelai said quickly. Rory glanced at her and chuckled before continued walking. "No, Rory, seriously. Wait. I… it's…"

She wasn't fast enough. Rory had already arrived at the kitchen and her blue eyes immediately went to a pair of hazel eyes she knew so well, but hadn't seen for so long.

"Jess is here…" Lorelai explained weakly.

"Jess…" she echoed. This should be the time for her mind to go 200 miles an hour and for emotions to flood her, but instead, she got nothing. It was like time had frozen. Nothing happened for what seemed an eternity, until she finally saw his lips arching up and his mouth started to move.

"Rory, hey…" he started hesitantly, but he never got a chance to finish his sentence.

It all came back to her. Her anxiety as she waited for him to reply to her email; how she felt when she read his letter; all the thoughts she had about them in the meantime. And how she felt two nights before, when she opened the door, expecting (despite how bizarre and unlikely) for it to be him when really she ended up facing a different ex-boyfriend.

"No," she blurted out. All the three of them in the kitchen looked at her in surprise. "You don't get to talk. You got your chance to talk and, per usual, decided not to, so you don't get to talk now. I'll talk instead, okay? Don't answer that," she added immediately when she noticed his mouth was about to make one more attempt to move. At this point, Lorelai decided to leave the room very discretely. "I'm just sick of this. I don't even know what I think about anything anymore and this sucks, because I used to have an opinion on everything. But now I'm not even sure what I think about Paris getting pregnant, nor can I make decisions for my mother's wedding. Even worse, I don't even know what I'm feeling or what I should say when I find out I've been _'the other woman'_ for over a year. And then, you decide to send me a book after five years of no sort of contact whatsoever, you provide me a way to contact you back, you give me hope, and then you disappear and leave me hanging here. I'm just through with this, stop playing with me! Don't you know that the winner takes it all? You can't take anything else from me anymore," she said, breathing heavily and staring defiantly at him.

"Can I talk now?" he asked with a blank expression. She shrugged. "Did you just quote ABBA?" he asked in a mocking tone that just annoyed her even more.

"They had a point!" Rory crossed her arms and raised her chin.

"Okay, so I'm the 'winner' in this scenario? Because I'm missing the trophy part, what was it? When you blew me off when I said I was ready to be with you? Or was it when you came all alone to Philadelphia to see me and led me to believe we were finally making amends just so you could throw in my face you were in love with someone else? Or was it just now, when one of the reasons why I came here was because you wanted us to meet again? Yeah, that felt like a hell of a prize to me," Jess mimicked Rory finishing her speech, and neither said anything for a while until she avoided his eye contact.

"I'm out of here," Jess announced, taking his backpack. He opened it and placed four books on their kitchen table before turning away. Rory was completely stunned as she watched him go, only seeming to regain consciousness after he slammed the door behind him.

She approached the table slowly and read the title on the books; she shivered as soon as she recognized that they were his four books which she knew he had written since their last encounter. She took the first one and opened it. A paper fell from it, but she didn't pick it up; she was too focused on reading the page where authors would place their dedication, where in Jess's it always said, "For you who believed."

She sat heavily on the nearest chair and stared at those words for a while.


	5. Chapter 5

Lorelai had returned to the kitchen as soon as she heard the door slamming. Her heart ached when she saw her little girl with her face buried in her hands, crying again. She came near Rory slowly, picked up the paper left on the table and read it out loud. "Dear Jess, I'm glad to hear that you're overcoming your stealing addiction; Looks like it's a slow progress, though. You still owe me four books. I hope to see you again soon. Sincerely, Rory."

As she heard her own words in her mother's voice, all she could think about was how it was possibly the worst e-mail reply ever. Meanwhile, all Lorelai could think was that Jess was still the same reckless, selfish, angry punk he had always been, and everything Luke told her about how much he had changed was a lie. She turned to her daughter and patted her on the back.

"I'm so sorry, baby. I tried to avoid this, as soon as Luke told me the hoodlum was coming I emailed you and asked to spend the weekend in New York with you, remember? But when you came home crying I didn't know what to do. When he didn't show up on Friday I thought he had given up on the stupid idea. I'm so sorry, honey," she apologized honestly, her eyes fixed on her daughter's head. There was a flash of hope in Lorelai's eyes when she saw Rory finally raising her head and wiping off her tears.

"You knew he was coming?" the girl asked with a frown.

"Well, yes. He called on Monday and talked to Luke, who told me. So I emailed you and asked to go to New York this weekend, but then you came and…" the other woman explained, maintaining her concerned tone.

"Why didn't you tell me he was coming?" her daughter asked, cutting the other woman off.

"Because I was trying to avoid this! I was going to tell you once we got to New York, but then you came, and you were so sad, I just didn't know what to do. I said I was sorry…" Lorelai defended herself.

"But I told him I wanted to see him! You read the letter, I told him I wanted to see him soon and then he came!" Rory shouted. She glanced at his books thrown at the table realizing that not only he had come for her, but even understood when she said about the other four books missing in her collection.

"Well, how could I know? You didn't tell me! In fact, you haven't told me anything! I was trying to protect you. I've seen how you end up anytime he comes around and how he's always bad news, so I'm sorry if it ruins your plans on yelling at me but I won't let you make me feel bad about trying to protect you, Rory!" she shouted back and crossed her arms. They stared at each other quietly for a while. The younger was the one who broke the eye contact.

"I have to go find him…" she said quietly, looking at her own hands. She looked up at her mother again who raised her eyebrows and seemed to disapprove of the decision, but she didn't say anything as Rory got up and started to walk away through the same door Jess had left through only a few minutes prior.

"Are we good? Do you still hate me? When we see each other again do I get angry or worried about you?" Lorelai asked unsurely, but got no answer. She leaned her body on the chair previously occupied by Rory and sighed heavily.

Meanwhile, Rory had her mind set on her quest of finding Jess and patching things up. She took the only road she knew Jess was likely to have taken. On her way there she tried to come up with what she would say when they finally met, but nothing came to mind.

The walk started to feel like a marathon; she had never realized how far away her house was from the bridge, and it seemed to her that if it was a foot further it wouldn't be in Stars Hollow. She felt slightly relieved when she finally could see the trees and the sand, but immediately felt rushed too, as she realized she would be face to face with him again. She felt her heart beating faster; she stopped for a while to try to relax and finally took the curve to face the bridge.

It was empty. She narrowed her eyes, but still there was nobody sitting there like she expected; no one with maybe a cigarette in his mouth or reading a book or just staring at the water. There were just leaves and a lot of dirt. She looked around, confused, but still she seemed to be the only human being around.

Rory felt disappointed to say the least. She had the feeling she knew him better than anyone and she was positive that this would be the only place in Stars Hollow he could possibly be.

She walked to the bridge and sat down there. She wondered if he had come to Stars Hollow sometime in the past five years, after all he had Luke and his mother living there, not to mention his new sister, whom he'd probably met at least once. Perhaps he had a new favorite spot now that she wasn't aware of.

She pouted frustrated and stared at the water and watched as it dragged the leaves and branches and a cigarette butt. The last one caught her by surprise. Of course Stars Hollow had smokers but the odds they would go to that exact bridge were very unlikely. She suddenly felt even more depressed as she realized he probably had ran away again as he heard her coming. She looked up to the sky to hold back her tears when she heard a cracking sound and she turned around to look.

"Jess!" she exclaimed in surprise. "I'm so sorry. I had a bad week then nobody told me you were coming, which really isn't anybody's fault I guess, but I was just so surprised that I …" she stopped talking as she noticed he was shaking his head negatively with a very subtle smirk playing on his lips. "You're going to hold this against me, aren't you? You're just gonna continue to be mad at me about this and shove it in my face every once in a while, won't you? You know, there are studies that say that resentful people tend to get cancer, and so do smokers, so if I were you I would start to pay very close attention to my health," she said as she glared at him.

"Why do you care so much about my health?" he asked with one of his eyebrows raised.

She could feel herself blush as he caught her by surprised with that question. She tried to articulate some angry excuse but couldn't come up with any. He chuckled as he watched her struggle with her own mouth. His reaction made her even more embarrassed. "Stop it! This isn't cute!" she cried.

"You should see it from where I'm standing," he replied simply, still chuckling. Her angry frown slowly turned into a smile that she tried to restrain it by biting her lower lip.

"I'm sorry for everything I said, Jess. I didn't mean any of it, like I said things weren't all that great this week…" she said apologetically.

"That's okay," he shrugged. "I probably haven't been the best Frederick Wentworth either."

"Hey, good to see you haven't changed completely," she replied, smiling at his reference and he smirked back.

She felt her body tense at this exchange and quickly turned her face to the water again. He sat next to her and while his presence still made her nervous, she was now much more relaxed because they seemed to be on good terms again.

* * *

Lorelai kept pacing back and forth in the kitchen while Luke watched her with a somewhat hypnotized expression on his face.

"I hate this! How long has it been? One month? Two months?" she whined, still continuing her rhythm.

"About an hour…" Luke replied, looking at the clock on the top of the refrigerator and back to the crazy woman in front of him.

"Two months and an hour? Wow, you sure are precise…" she raised her eyebrows seriously before continuing her pace.

"No months, just hours. One hour, actually. Probably less than that," Luke corrected her, but she ignored him with a wave of her hand. "Why don't you just relax?" he pushed a chair next to him and gestured for her to sit. She ignored him again and Luke shrugged defeated.

"God! I hate not knowing, don't you hate not knowing?" she cried in frustration a few seconds later while looking to the clock herself.

"Ignorance is bliss as far as I'm concerned," he replied indifferently.

"Oh, so you're a big Thomas Gray fan, huh? So you've decided you're taking his side, is that it?" she raved at him.

"No, I'm on no one's side, I don't even know who that guy is, I'm just trying – begging you to calm down, they'll get here when they get here, and unless you want to sniff their clothes and chase after them just like you once mockingly suggested to me when I was the one going insane about them. All you can do is calm down and try to have a nice morning with your husband-to-be," he said reasonably, sounding much calmer than he actually felt.

She looked at him with a small sense of guilt for not, as Luke had said, enjoying the day with him. She tried to clear her mind and stop thinking about whatever she thought Jess and Rory were doing. She went to sit on Luke's lap, kissing him lightly.

It wasn't until another hour had passed that they heard the doorbell. Lorelai immediately jumped out from where she was and rushed to the door. She stopped abruptly when she was face to face with the newcomer.

"Ha!" she shouted triumphantly. "Where is she? Where did you dump her body?" she pointed her index finger directly to his nose accusatively. He just took a step back to avoid it hitting his face.

"Don't worry, I can guarantee that you both will meet again pretty soon," he said suggestively making sure she had caught his trademark smirk.

"Excuse me?" she raised her eyebrows.

"She said she'll meet you at the diner for lunch. She's at Lane's right now," he shrugged indifferently and started to walk away from her. She frowned at him and mentally slapped him and his smart-mouth.

Luke kissed his fiancée goodbye and walked out to go with his nephew to the Inn where Sookie was waiting for them – they were meeting with her for their taste testing to pick Luke's part of the wedding cake. As they closed the door behind them, Lorelai looked around and laid her eyes on Paul Anka, half-asleep on a cushion.

"I guess it's just you and me for now, then," she said to the dog. He stared back at her for a while and got back to sleep.

* * *

Rory and Lane were going through the details of the Bachelorette party and making a shopping list of everything they should have for it – mostly every kind of alcohol they could name. They had just finished this and were moving on to the wedding party details when she noticed Lane's hesitant look.

"Rory, I have to run something by you," she said carefully. The other girl looked up to her Korean friend waiting for her next words. "Well, as you know, Hep Alien doesn't exist anymore and so we're not going to play in your mom's wedding," she started and Rory continued to just listen. "Okay, so, because of that I was in charge to pick the replacement band. So apparently there's this great band that could do the gig and has a very reasonable price. And yesterday I listened to their demo CD, and it's really great. The thing is that the band came from a recommendation," she finished.

"Okay, it all seems great. What's the problem?" Rory asked puzzled.

"Well, it's just a small thing. You see, the recommendation was from… Jess…" Lane cleared her throat at her last word and avoided her friend's gaze.

"Oh!" Rory nodded lightly, finally understanding why her friend would be so concerned to talk about this. "He's here today, did you know?" she replied equally hesitant.

"Yeah, I know. I was confused when you called me. Lorelai told me you guys would be in New York this weekend," the Korean girl confessed.

"I can explain that later, but what do you want to do about the band?" the other girl asked.

"Right. Well, they're playing in New York this Wednesday and I'm going to watch them and talk to the band anyways, but I thought that maybe we could go together. They are truly great. You wouldn't be sorry," Lane replied using her best convincing look.

"I'd love that," Rory nodded with a smile and Lane jumped excited to hug her. "Jess and I talked today…" she continued once her Korean friend was settled in her seat again.

"Yeah?" she raised her eyebrows and leaned closer, very interested in the new subject. "And?"

"I don't know, but he did call himself Frederick Wentworth," Rory replied with a hopeful tone in her voice.

"And you're Anne Elliot! Aw that's so romantic!" the other girl squealed. "It is, isn't it? From Jane Austen's book, they do get together in the end, don't they?" she seeks for confirmation.

"Yes, yes they do," Rory confirms, not even trying to hide her own happiness at the thought.

* * *

**A.N.: Hi, everyone! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, it was actually written a long time ago, but I only had the time to type it this week. Good news are that I've developed a system and if everything goes according to plan, this story will be updated in a biweekly basis, so stay tuned. This is one of my favorite chapters so far, and things will start to develop better from now on, and I'm really excited :D  
**

**As always, a huge thank you to _luvtheheaven_ for being her usual awesome self and helping me out with this story.**

**Last but not least, reviews are always appreciated, they make every author's day and I'm no exception to that rule. Also, thank you for everyone who added my story to their favorites and/or story alerts, it really means a lot to me to have this kind of feedback. See you all in two weeks!  
**


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